Weninger

I first met Franz Weninger in one of his vineyards outside Sopron overlooking Lake Neusiedl in Hungary. While we were walking through the vineyard, he kept stopping to check if the ants are doing their job in cleaning up the dead or diseased wood from the vines. Franz is very energetic and outgoing, and his excitement about the wines, the terroir and the ants is contagious.

The Weninger family has been making wine in by the Austrian-Hungarian border for more than a century. In 1997 they acquired their first vineyards in Sopron/Hungary. Today Franz and his marvelous wife Petra – who manages the winery – produce around 80.000 bottles in Hungary and 100.000 bottles in Austria.

Weninger moved to biodynamic farming in 2006 and has been Demeter certified since 2016. Thus ants, cow dung and buried quartz are important elements in their viticulture, creating high quality wines that show the beauty of the terroir and the talent and energy of the winemakers.